Feather Mites, Feather Lice, and Thanatochresis

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Unrelated taxa of feather mites use exuviae of their own, or closely related, species for molting within quills or on feather surfaces of diverse groups of birds. On the Orange-fronted Conure [Aratinga canicularis (L.)] and other parrot species, feather mites and mallophagan eggs coinhabit the same feather area, mites molt within the exuviae of other mites within the mallophagan egg shells. Molting within exuviae and within egg shells are examples of thanatochresis (the use of dead parts of one animal by living individuals of a second species, but not for food); this phenomenon may be common among feather mites and other Astigmata.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: